About Us

(updated 2018)

What Is the church of Christ that meets at Highland View?

We are a group of Christians who live and work in Oak Ridge and the surrounding area. Our approach to worship is a simple, heartfelt assembly to praise God, to remember His gifts to us, and to encourage each other as we try to follow Jesus' example every day. We express our mission with these statements.

We work to teach Christ and to save souls through demonstrating the love of Christ in our lives.

We are intent upon strengthening our faith in Jesus by serving others daily.

Our faith is demonstrated by showing God's grace at work in our lives as we claim His promise of salvation for all who accept Christ as Lord.

What to expect during a worship assembly

We meet together as a full congregation on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and for specially planned events designed to build our faith and our love. We also meet in small groups in members' homes or in or other settings so that we can know each other better . . . to actually become aware of what is occurring in day-to-day life and to be supportive of each other.

COMMUNION

Every Sunday we pause to remember Christ's death and resurrection during the communion service, also known as "the Lord's Supper." Patterned after the memorial Jesus led during his final Passover supper with His disciples, we first have prayer and then pass unleavened bread among the congregation. Another prayer of thanks and remembrance is followed by passing small, individual cups of grape juice ('fruit of the vine"). This is a prayerful, quiet time of reflection on Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection on the first day of the week.

MUSIC

Our worship services feature a cappella music, meaning we sing without instruments. This is different than many other church groups and may seem odd to some. What we experience is a beautiful outpouring of our worshipful hearts, simple and open to all who want to sing. We love music and experience it in many ways in our daily lives--vocal, instrumental, and in combination. The music in our worship as the church body, though, is reserved for lifting our voices to God in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We sing a wide variety of songs from older traditional hymns, to modern praise songs, to songs written by our own members. There are some beautiful arrangements of four-part harmony with solos and echo effects. And our songs are offered up to God as a sweet sound for Him and to flow from heart to heart among us.

CONTRIBUTION

On Sunday mornings, usually after the communion service, we pass collection plates through the assembly as a convenient time for our members to make monetary contributions to the work at Highland View. Often, we sing a song of thanksgiving during this collection. While visitors may contribute if they wish, they are not required or expected to contribute. Many of our members give in a variety of ways in addition to this time of contribution.

LEARNING

We offer Bible classes for all ages, children through adults, on Sundays and Wednesdays either before or after the regular assembly time. Everyone gathers in the main auditorium for the devotional portion of the Sunday morning assembly time. Then children through age 11 are dismissed to "Children's Church" led by a small team of teachers for simple lessons and activities while older youth and all other adults remain in the auditorium for the sermon and the closing prayer led by one of our Elders.

NURSERIES

There is an attended nursery for babies, and two observation rooms for parents who need to take a restless toddler out, change diapers, and otherwise attend to their little one's needs away from the general assembly.

HANDICAPPED ACCOMMODATIONS

The church building is accessible by wheelchair via the East Entrance (covered drive-through), and there are wheelchair accessible bathrooms off the front lobby. We offer some accommodation for hearing-impaired attendees via headphones. The parking lot has a number of van-accessible handicapped parking spaces for those with permits. We also keep a manual wheelchair on site available for anyone needing temporary mobility aid.

About our congregation

Highland View church of Christ has a rich history beginning with the first meeting as a group in 1945 in a school house which provided the congregation's name. Our mission is "Growing spiritually through loving and serving others."